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Proposals to exempt fire sprinklers in IRC withdrawn

QUINCY, Mass.—Several proposals that would have provided exemptions to the fire sprinkler requirement in the International Residential Code were withdrawn by the proponents during the recent committee action hearings in Dallas, according to a National Fire Protection Association Fire Sprinkler Initiative blog.

“The effect (of the proposals) was to eliminate the mandate by allowing sprinklers to be optional vs. other features,” Jeff Shapiro, of the IRC Fire Sprinkler Coalition, was quoted as saying in the blog. “In one case, the proposals would have allowed a fire extinguisher or sprinklers.”

Shapiro characterized the proposals as an “easy out” for builders to exclude fire sprinklers from new home construction, according to the blog.

Because they were withdrawn, the proposals are no longer up for consideration at the IRC final hearings, which will take place in Atlantic City, N.J. The fire sprinkler requirement for one- and two-family homes will remain intact in the 2015 IRC, the blog noted.